Who Am I?
by EvilNinjaPenguin
Summary: She was an agent for the CIA when she met him the first time. Now, she was struggling to reclaim her past and finds him again. Nothing ever works the way we want it to...
1. Chapter 1

She was sitting in a coffee shop, a cup of very strong black coffee in her hand, as she looked out the window at all the busy people passing by. She went by the name of Irene Le-Faye, and had worn many others in her time as a member of 'the agency'. She had never been able to determine her real name, though she had always known that there was something missing. She had been raised by a quiet little Russian woman in Baja California, but she knew that Baba was not her real mother. She had few memories of her early childhood, but she remembered the faces of her parents. She knew that her mother had died, she had watched it happen, but she never found out what had happened to her father. She never found him after the murder of her mother.

She had a rare gift, but it had not manifested itself until after the accident. She hated it sometimes, like when she was having a nightmare, but it was very helpful in her job for 'the agency'. She had almost perfect recall of detail. If you asked her where she was on any given day at a specific time, she could tell you almost any detail that you could possibly want. What she was wearing, what she was doing, where she was, who she talked with, what they were talking about, almost perfect recall. Her Baba called it a blessing, like a living photograph, but she was not sure what she thought of it. Some days it was good, others it was bad. Her only wish was that it had started earlier, so she could find her father, or find out what had happened to him.

Her mother had been killed in a shooting. She had witnessed a murder and was going to testify when they found her. The Mexican drug cartel had shot her mother right in front of her and her friend Irene Le-Faye, but she had gotten out of the car in time to run away. The car had been torched, along with her mother and friend, so that identification of any kind was beyond the realm of possibility. She had run for hours, when a policeman found her. When he asked her what her name was, she said, "Irene Le-Faye." Irene had been an orphan living at the Catholic mission, but there were so many children there that they couldn't tell all of them apart. She was sent to the mission and continued to live as Irene, sent from one foster family to the next until she was twelve when she was sent to Baba's house and decided to stay.

Shaking her head, she took a sip of her coffee. She had a job to do and getting distracted by the past was not going to help her accomplish it. She was currently in a coffee shop in downtown L.A. waiting to meet her contact. She had recently left 'the agency' and was trying her hat as an NCIS agent. She did not know why it appealed to her so much, but something just felt right about it, so she followed her gut to Henrietta Lange. Hetty had put her on an assignment to see if she was going to be an asset. She smiled at THAT thought. She had known Hetty since Philistia where they had an undercover assignment together, but that was several years ago. While Hetty was excited about having her on board, she wanted to make sure she was still as good as ever.

She had beautiful red hair and dark green eyes. She was tall and thin, like a model from a magazine, but under all her outward glamour was a strong woman who wouldn't take pain lying down. _There he is_ she thought to herself, smiling. She was tasked with following one of her fellow,_ future fellow, hopefully_, she reminded herself, OSP agents. She was supposed to keep tabs on him for as long as possible, without him noticing. If she was successful, then she was in. She was a little worried. _He's a trained field agent isn't he? He shouldn't be this easy to follow._ It wasn't until day six that Hetty finally admitted that he was an LAPD cop who worked for them as a liaison and not an actual agent. She had laughed pretty hard over that one.

She looked out the window again and immediately knew that someone was watching her. She kept her gaze casual, but she swept her eyes through the crowd until she saw him. A tall black man was walking through the crowd, but for some reason he gave her the creeps. She smiled, he was a SEAL. She could tell by the way he carried himself. Her smile grew wider as she recognized him. His name was Sam Hanna and he was one of the OSP team members. _He's probably following me to see if I can evade as well as I can spy. Well, I think I want to make this interesting. I have already made him, which means his partner is around here somewhere. Once I tag him then I can have some fun with Marty._

She looked around for the one known as "G". She was impressed by his skills, because over the last week while she had been following Deeks, she had been keeping an eye on the rest of the team, to make sure that none of them were suspicious. She had always been VERY impressed by his ability to become anyone on command. He was very good at undercover work and he obviously knew it too. _There he is…_

She saw him up the street a little way doing some shopping. It was hard to tell, but he was not actually interested in anything that he was looking at, except for her. She smiled._ He is a VERY good operator. If I wasn't trained to lose people, I would have missed it, but I know you, G, you cannot fool me_. She reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone. Dialing Hetty, she waited. Sam and G were slowly making their way over to her, but then she saw Deeks. He was going to get to her a lot sooner then they were. _Ok, I have one shot at this. They are going to take about fifteen minutes to wander over to me. Deeks will be here in less than two minutes. Ok, babe, how do you want to play this?_

Before she could answer herself, Hetty picked up the phone. "Isabella. What can I do for you?"  
>"Hey, Hetty, I have two questions. First, am I compromised?"<br>"No, Deeks has not figured out that you are tailing him."  
>"Ok, good. Second, I have compromised your two agents. Mr. Hanna was first, but only because I felt him looking at me. Mr. Callen was harder, but I found him. I did not identify either of them by their faces, but by the way they followed me. They were watching like they were trained."<br>"Oh. And how is that Isabella?"  
>"They were not looking directly at me for more then three seconds at any given time, but through peripherals."<br>"I understand, but I will not tell them you have seen them. I want you to break their tail and still keep an eye on Mr. Deeks. I will contact you when you are finished alright?"  
>"Alright, thank you Hetty."<br>"No. Thank YOU, Isabella."

Hanging up the phone, she sighed. She was getting tired of following Marty Deeks around like a little lost puppy, so she decided to make this a little more interesting. This time, she was going to "run into" him, as literally as she could.

As he walked in the door, she walked out, but spun into him and spilled her coffee all over the both of them. "Oh my…I'm so sorry…did I hurt you? Oh I'm so clumsy, I didn't mean to…" she stammered, forcing herself into a flawless French accent. When she finally looked up at him, she saw that he was staring at her slightly dumbfounded. "No," he said finally. "It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going…Here let me help you…" He picked up the cup off the floor and threw it away before walking back to her. "Hey, since I spilled your coffee, the least I can do would be buying you another one," he said smiling. "That would be wonderful," she said, accent still in place, "but you did soak my clothes, and I am afraid that I do not have anything else to change into. I just flew in from Milan, on my way to New York for the latest season, but my luggage does not arrive in L.A. until tomorrow…I am afraid I must get back to my hotel to get a bathrobe and wash my clothes…" she trailed off waiting for her comment to register. She saw the wheels in his head turning and almost laughed when he understood. "Well, I could lone you a bathrobe if you are willing to wash your clothes at my place." _Success,_ she smiled to herself inwardly,_ in about thirty seconds. I think that's got to be a new record_. She smiled, "that would be wonderful. My name is Irene Le-Faye, what is yours?" "Mar…cuss…Finley. I'm, uh, well, I'm on my way to the peer to go sailing, if you want to come with, I'm sure we can find you a bathing suit while we get your clothes dry cleaned…" _Wow, somebody is bored,_ she thought. She put on her best smile and said, "Coffee and a boat ride? What more can a girl ask for?"

Smiling she put her arm through his as he walked up to the counter and ordered one of the most girly drinks she had ever heard of. She smiled up at him and ordered a large soy milk, non-fat, café-mocha latte without whipped cream and with a shot of cinnamon. She absolutely hated the thing, but had discovered long ago that not only did it make her seem like she was a 'princess' type girl, but it also helped her focus on her cover. If she ordered black coffee then she was herself, but if she ordered that drink, she was in full on 'damsel in distress' or 'femme fatale' mode.

Once their drinks had arrived, he escorted her out to his car and they drove to a boatshed on the peer. She knew that this was an NCIS building because she had followed him here after he and his partner had apprehended a suspect. She smiled, _Oh, is Hetty going to kill you. And if SHE doesn't then I'm sure that pretty partner of yours will…_

Once they were inside, he showed her where the storage lockers were. He showed her where Hetty kept some of the extra swimming gear and pulled out a tiny green string bikini. She smiled. _It's a good thing I just got my wax done this morning. I'm so glad he sleeps late…_

She kept smiling as she took the article of clothing (if you could call it that) and thanked him before asking where the bathroom was. He pointed her in the right direction and then proceeded to strip in the locker room as she turned around to leave. _Okay, let's hurry this along shall we…_

Changing her clothes as quickly as possible, she walked out of the bathroom and back into the locker room. There was Marty Deeks in swim trunks, lathering up with sunscreen. She smiled. "I am all done. What would you like me to do with my clothes?" He looked up at her and did a double take. "Man, you have some awesome abs. Look at you, sexy thing. I was not expecting that…" She smiled and looked down at the floor like she was blushing.

She had expected a reaction similar to that and was prepared. She was tall and thin, but she was definitely well toned. She had a beautiful six pack and the rest of her body was muscular, while still being feminine. It was a look few women possessed, but was damn sexy. As she slowly turned in a circle for him, he noticed her tattoo. It was a beautiful fake that she had done just for this mission, but no one could tell that it wasn't real, it was that well done. Her tattoo was in French, fitting with the cover she had chosen. It said _**"It's always the quiet ones."**_ As she turned back to him, she saw he was still staring at her. She smiled to herself but forced a cough. He jumped.

"Oh, yeah, your clothes, let's see. You can stick them on a hanger and I'll call to have them dry cleaned by the time we get back." "That is marvelous."

An hour later, she was on the ocean, pretending to be amused by Marcus Finley…aka Marty Deeks. She was not sure how that Kensi girl put up with him all the time. One sexual joke after the other and he was definitely hitting on her hard as they drove around the ocean on what was obviously not his boat. It was named the "Kelly" and for some reason that disturbed her. She couldn't figure out why, but it did not sit right with her. She stroked the wood of the bow as she lay basking in the sunshine. It was obvious that this boat had been built by hand and not by any machine. She loved the feel of the wood, so soft and smooth, as if it had been carved out of love and desperate longing. She loved this boat.

Suddenly her cell phone rang. Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Hetty. She smiled sadly at Deeks and said, with her wonderful French accent still in place, "I am sorry, I must answer this call." He nodded and she answered. "Bonjour Henrietta," she said laughing.

"Hello, Isabella. You may come back to the boatshed. I know you have already been there as Mr. Deeks has had your dry cleaning sent from there. I will be waiting for you and Mr. Deeks, so do come quickly. Don't tell him what is going on. I will explain everything to him and the rest of the team when it is time."  
>"Of course, I would not deny you that pleasure. It is your prerogative as the boss to do as you please."<br>"Oh it is so nice to be understood. I look forward to seeing you again Isabella. See you soon."  
>"Adour, Henrietta."<p>

As she hung up the phone she smiled at Deeks. "I am sorry, but I must ask that you take me back to your boatshed. I have a very important meeting that we cannot miss."

He looked a little worried. "That might be a slight problem. Your dry cleaning won't be ready for another hour or so." "Oh, that won't be a problem. I am sure we will find something for me at this meeting."He looked confused, but steered the boat back to the boatshed.


	2. Chapter 2

G's Point Of View

When he had walked into work that morning, he had not expected to be so bored. He wasn't upset, mind you, but having no cases was rare in the L.A. area for NCIS. Hetty was on the phone in her office, but as he looked at her, he could tell something was up. She looked happy, but her voice was very grave. "He is an LAPD liaison, not a trained OSP NCIS field agent, so I am not excessively upset, but the fact that he hasn't noticed someone tailing him for five days is troubling. I will send some agents to deal with the matter. Let us see how long it takes them to flush out the 'rat'."

He was shocked. He knew he should not have been listening in, but he also knew that he was about to have a case. "Thank you Isabella, I will deal with it immediately. Be prepared. This is about to get very interesting. I look forward to seeing how this all plays out." She put down the phone and looked up at G. "Mr. Callen. Call your team. We have a new case for you."  
>"What about Deeks?"<br>"Mr. Callen, you should most certainly inform Mr. Deeks that he is being followed. Perhaps he can figure out who it is or provide any information to help you catch this tail of his."

Several wasted hours later they realized that Deeks knew nothing at all about his tail. He had not seen anyone suspicious over the last few days, but he had felt a little weird. He had not been able to place it, but now that they said he had a tail, he understood. He had felt someone watching him, but had not known what the feeling was. Now, it made sense.

By the end of the day, they were no closer to knowing who was following Deeks, how they were following him, or if there was anyone following him at all. If it had been anyone but Hetty, they would have said she was being overprotective, but it was Hetty and she was nothing if not exact in her assessments. If she said someone was tailing Deeks, then someone was definitely tailing Deeks.

The next morning, G walked into ops and was shocked to see Hetty there talking with Eric. As soon as the doors opened they stopped talking and Eric looked slightly guilty. "What's going on?" asked G, knowing that something wasn't right. Hetty smiled up at him as Kensi and Sam walked in. "I have found your spy. It took a few phone calls, but it has been done. Mr. Beal, if you would please?"

Eric pulled up a few pictures of places around Deeks' apartment. One was the jogging trail that he ran every morning, one was his favorite coffee shop, one was the bakery where he got doughnuts after his run, and the list went on and on. "All these pictures have been taken over the last six days. There is nothing older then that in the file that I was sent. I tried tracking the IP address that it was sent from, but it came up as heavily encrypted. I have not been able to break the encryption yet. The main problem is: none of these pictures make any sense unless you consider that they are all places that Deeks hangs out. Unless these were taken by the spy to let us know that he or she was actually there, I can't see any common factors."

The agents stared at the pictures as Eric was talking when suddenly Sam said, "redhead." G and Kensi looked closer, noticing several redheads showing up in the pictures. "What about them Sam," asked Kensi. "Not them," he said seriously, "her." He zoomed all of the pictures in until they were solely focused on a single woman in all of the shots. The only problem was: the women didn't look much alike. Most were tall and thin, and all had red hair, but that was where the obvious similarities ended. G looked closer at the women in question. "It's the same woman," he said, shocked.  
>"What" asked Kensi? "It can't be. These two are too short and fat. The women in the other pictures look like supermodels."<br>"Oh, but it is, Miss Bly," said Hetty. "It is hard to make oneself look substantially shorter, but to make oneself look fat is not very hard to do. And the pregnant woman is easy to fake as well. If you would put these in chronological order please Mr. Beal."

Eric did and then Kensi gasped. As the days went on, she saw it. The woman who had been tailing Deeks had done a marvelous job of hiding the fact that she was the same person. She had changed clothes and hairstyles every few hours for the first three days. On day four and five, she had been more elaborate in her disguises. She had apparently figured out his pattern and was able to determine how much time she had at any given point to remake herself. This was not good. He had been working for the last four days, so for her to pick up his pattern already was bad. She was obviously a pro, they never had a clear shot of her face and what they did see was always the same angle, nothing that would help them piece a face together for facial recognition. G had a bad feeling, something was definitely familiar about this woman, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Where is she now Eric? Do you know who she is? How do we catch her?"

Eric had the decency to look ashamed. "I can't even figure out where it was sent from much less who it was sent by. I haven't got any hits on the same credit card other then Deeks in any of these places. There is no car in these pictures, so no plates to trace. I'm at a loss."

Hetty smiled at Eric. "It looks like you will have to catch her so you can ask her these questions yourself Mr. Callen. We can only hope that she is still following Mr. Deeks. So far she has not shown any sign of being violent or dangerous, so let us assume for the moment that he is in no danger. She has not approached him yet, but we must proceed with caution. According to the timestamps these photo's Mr. Deeks will be getting his morning coffee in approximately one hour. Get into place and see if you can catch her before she notices."

G and Sam went to the coffee shop while Kensi went to Deeks apartment to see if she could get to him before he compromised himself, again. Lucky for the team, the coffee shop was in an open air market, so they could blend in easier, or so they thought. Sam was walking up and down the street looking at any redhead that walked by while Callen was pretending to window shop. Suddenly, he saw her: the girl in the coffee shop window. She was looking around the market casually. She seemed to skim right over him before she continued her perusal of the market, but G knew that she was not a casual observer. Something about her was so familiar, but he could not place why. Maybe it was the fact that they were both operators. That had to be it.

"Sam, I see her: redhead, drinking coffee in the window."  
>"I don't see her. Oh, wait, the girl on the phone?"<br>"What," G asked looking up again. She was indeed on the phone, but she looked like she was laughing. She was either having a conversation with a friend, or she was calling the person who had sent her spying and was a better operator then he thought. He hoped for the first, but worried about the last.  
>"Yeah, Sam, that's her," he said as he watched her put her phone away and stand up. She smiled as she walked right into…Deeks? "What the…I thought Kensi would have gotten to him."<br>"Apparently not, G," said Sam. "It will take me a couple minutes to get to them from here, can you get there any faster?"  
>"Not in this crowd Sam," he said worriedly. "We have to hope that Deeks is smart enough to be careful."<p>

By the time the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. Deeks was ordering the girl coffee and was definitely flirting with her. She was smiling and laughing right along with him as they exited the coffee shop and got into his car.

"Where the hell are they going?" asked Callen to no one in particular. "Eric, follow Deeks' car. It will take us a little bit to get out of here, but we need to know what is going on."  
>"On it," said Eric from OPS. As G watched Deeks walk off with the girl, he got a passing glance at her face. <em>No!<em> He thought _it couldn't be. There is no way._ He had finally made it into the coffee shop and he ran up to the counter. "That tall redhead, what was she drinking?"

The barista looked at him confused for a moment then said, "Well, a triple strong black coffee but then when Marty showed up she ordered this really weird drink. I'd never heard of it before, but it sounds really good. I might have to start advertising it."

"What was it," asked G, fear rising in his gut again.

"It was a large soy milk, non-fat, café-mocha latte without whipped cream and with a shot of cinnamon," said the barista. "That sounds weird cause who would mix chocolate and cinnamon, but now that I think about it why not?"

G was racing off toward the car before the guy had a chance to finish his thought.

Ten minutes later they had managed to make it back to the challenger and were racing down the street in the direction of Deeks car. It hadn't moved in the last two minutes and that had them worried until Eric's voice came over the phone, "Guys. His car is parked at the boatshed and he just called our guy to pick up some clothes for dry cleaning."

"WHAT!" cried G.  
>"He is so dead. I'm going to kill him then bring him back so Hetty can have a go," said Sam angrily.<br>"Maybe he finally figured it out and is holding her for interrogation," said G.  
>"Deeks? Figure it out? I doubt it. I bet he just wanted some ass."<p>

When they got to the boatshed, they noticed that the _Kelly_ was missing. G was furious. The _Kelly_ was HIS boat. His friend Gibbs had given it to him. Deeks was going to pay BIG time for this whole fiasco. G called Eric. "I need you to look for the _Kelly_ on any camera that you could think of. Deeks took it out and if we are going to find him we need all the help we can get."

Eric sighed. "That's not going to be easy guys. There are not a lot of cameras on the ocean, but I will do the best that I can. You might as well have a seat. This is going to take a while." G and Sam looked at each other. This was not going well. They sat down and waited for Eric to give them an update.

About an hour later Sam broke the silence. "Think of it this way G," he said, trying to break the tension. "Either she will kill him while he is onboard or he will come back here with her and we can kill him ourselves."  
>"That would be most unfortunate, Mr. Hanna, considering I would like that honor," came the voice of Hetty from the doorway to the boatshed.<p>

"Hetty, what are you doing here?" asked G. "We were just about to call you."  
>"I know, Mr. Callen. I have a quick phone call to make and then I have some important information for you. We wait for Miss Bly, Mr. Beal, Miss Jones, and Mr. Deeks. Once they are all here, we will continue."<br>"So you do think he is coming back? She won't kill him aboard ship?"  
>"No, Mr. Callen, she never intended to hurt him, we discussed that this morning. Now if you will excuse me for a few moments, I have a phone call to make."<p>

She picked up her phone just as Kensi, Eric, and Nell walked in. They all watched her in silence as she spoke. "Hello, Isabella. You may come back to the boatshed. I know you have already been there as Mr. Deeks has had your dry cleaning sent from there. I will be waiting for you and Mr. Deeks, so do come quickly. Don't tell him what is going on. I will explain everything to him and the rest of the team when it is time." There was some quiet talking on the other end, but no one could hear what was being said. Suddenly, Hetty laughed, "Oh it is so nice to be understood. I look forward to seeing you again Isabella. See you soon." She waited a moment longer before hanging up the phone.

G looked at her wearily. "Ok, Hetty. What is going on?"  
>"Patience, Mr. Callen, as soon as Mr. Deeks gets here, I will explain."<p>

They sat in silence for the next five minutes as they waited for Deeks. Suddenly, they heard the roar of the engine that G had put into the _Kelly_. G relaxed visibly as the boat pulled in to dock. They all looked over to Deeks and gasped. The girl who stood up to get out of the boat was stunning. Her red hair caught the sunlight perfectly, bathing her in a warm glow. Her skin was smooth and creamy, accentuating her beautiful muscle lines. She looked like a fallen angel with her glowing hair and her smooth skin. Sam and G caught themselves within a second of being shocked, but Eric looked at her in awe until Nell punched him in the arm. Kensi just looked jealous. G could understand why. It was obvious to anyone who watched them that Kensi had a thing for Deeks, but this girl, this SPY had walked up to him and captured his attention without effort.

As soon as the girl hit the deck, Hetty was there hugging her. At this realization, the entire team started talking. "What is going on Hetty?" "Hey guys, what are you doing here?" "Really Deeks, you picked up your tail and had coffee with her?" "Wow, what is going on Hetty?" There was complete and utter chaos as the team tried to reason out what was going on.

Finally Hetty called a stop to it. "Alright, stop. If you will all have a seat, I will explain. Kensi, would you be kind enough to get our guest some clothing? I am sure that the atrocious attire that Mr. Deeks has dressed her in will not be warm enough for indoors. Out in the sunshine perhaps, but not in the air conditioned lounge."

Kensi ran off quickly to obey, with the redhead following behind more slowly. All of the men noticed the beautiful tattoo that was written across her lower back. G looked at Hetty, "It's always the quiet ones?" he asked casually. "Yes, Mr. Callen. She thought that if she had a tattoo, she would be more interesting to Mr. Deeks. It had to be French to fit her cover, but it also had to be somewhere 'sexy' to pique his interest. She did a marvelous job. It will be gone by tomorrow."

The silence continued until Kensi and the redhead returned. Kensi had refused to let the girl wear any of HER clothes, but there was an extra shirt lying around that Kensi had thought would diminish the girl's beauty, but the fact that she was wearing one of Callen s shirts on top of her swimsuit did not go unnoticed. None of their pants fit her, so she went without, leaving her in only a shirt and swimsuit. G didn't know what it was about this girl that set him off, but something was different about her. He was never one to be distracted by a pretty face, but you could hardly call her a pretty face and do her any kind of justice. She was more like Venus, Aphrodite, and a fallen angel mixed into one perfect package, but G had to stop himself. _This is ridiculous_, he thought to himself. _I am not some hormonal teenager who can't control himself. I am a trained federal agent and a born operator._ But no matter what he thought to himself, his gut told him otherwise. _It has to be seeing her in my shirt. She's a good looking girl and I'm a grown guy. That's it. It's just seeing a gorgeous girl in my clothes with her hair all windblown from the boat ride…shut up G, you are not helping your cause here…_

Once the women had been seated, Hetty spoke up. "If I can have your attention please, I would like to introduce you to an old friend of mine. She was Isabella Pachinko when I knew her in Philistia, though she has worn many names in the five years since then. She is currently going by the name Irene Le-Faye, though it is not her real name. Much like Mr. Callen, she does not know her true identity. She was once known by another name, though she has long since forgotten what it was. We are going to try and help her figure out who she really is. She has been a spy with 'the agency' for the last ten years, recruited straight out of high school, so she is twenty-eight, approximately the same age as you, Miss Bly, though she has more experience under her belt then you. Mr. Hanna, she passed S.E.R.E. and B.U.D.s with flying colors, I am sure she could even give YOU a run for your money."

"That's not so hard," said Kensi, "I can take Sam."

Sam and G shared a look and then looked back to Hetty who was smiling. "Miss Bly, I hate to be the one to inform you, but I have watched most of your sparring matching with Mr. Hanna and he has definitely been going easy on you."

Kensi looked over at Sam with shock written all over her face. "No," she said in disbelief. "I have beaten you before. You couldn't have been pulling punches…"

Sam had the decency to look embarrassed, "sorry Kensi." She huffed. He was going to pay for that. "Hey, it's not like I don't trust you to watch my back. I know you can handle your own in the field, but I didn't want you to be upset that you can't beat me. We all know that an angry Kensi is a dangerous Kensi…"

She shook her head, realizing that he hadn't done it to be cocky or arrogant, but to make her feel like an important member of the team. She still didn't like it, but she did understand it. Now that she thought about it, she realized she should have seen it before. She had never beat Callen and she knew that Sam was a better fighter then Callen, but she had assumed that Callen was just lucky against her. Now she knew better. That seriously hurt her pride. "Rematch?" she asked.

"Perhaps another time Miss Bly, at the moment we have more important things to worry about. Mr. Deeks, would you care to tell me why you brought a random girl to the boatshed?"  
>"I knew that she was the suspect so I was keeping her under surveillance?"<br>"Then why did you not call for backup? Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna were both at the scene when you arrived. Why did you not wait for them to apprehend the suspect? And why in the love of Gucci did you take her out into the middle of the ocean?"  
>"Because I…didn't know she was the suspect and I thought she was hot?"<br>"That is a better answer. Honesty, Mr. Deeks, is always the best answer with me. Now, on to more important matters; the new team arrangements. Isabella, what name are you going to go by at NCIS? I know you are currently listed as Irene Le-Faye, but that name is not entirely safe given its history."

The redhead looked up for the first time during Hetty s interrogation. The full force of her dark green eyes hit the team as they looked at her. G could have sworn that she looked sad for a moment, but it was quickly locked up behind a professional mask. She was wearing a smile that looked genuine, but G knew that it wasn't. It was a practiced look that seemed to draw you in and make you feel at ease even when you didn't want to.

"Thank you Hetty," she said casually. "I was a member of 'the agency' for the last ten years and have lived by many names, but I think I want to go by Kitty Garrison. I want to thank you all in advance for helping me. I don't know if we can ever be friends, but I hope that we can at least be friendly. Hetty has kindly offered to let me work with you while we gather information on my past. I don't know what cover she has planned for me, but I hope that we can overlook the unfortunate manner of our meeting."

The entire team had been watching her as she spoke, but the last sentence was directed straight at Callen. Their eyes met and they stared at each other as though lost to the rest of the world. Both of them felt like they were missing something, but were too afraid to ask what was going on. Suddenly, Hetty spoke up once again, breaking them from their reverie.

"Thank you Kitty, I have no doubt that you will fit well with our team. Mr. Callen, do you still have the open bedroom in that house that I bought you? Good. You are now going undercover as Mr. Gharrett Garrison, the husband of Kitty. We have a very serious case that has come up and I need my best agents working on it. I know that you do not trust Kitty yet, but I am giving you the rest of the day off to talk with her and come to some mutual arrangement. I believe that you will grow to appreciate each other. Please try to open up to her, she may understand better then you would imagine."

With that being said, Hetty nodded to Eric and Nell who followed her out of the boatshed back to ops. Deeks was still confused about how the girl he had been hitting on this morning had turned out to be something totally different, so Kensi grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to his car. Sam looked over at G as if asking if he wanted backup for this one. Before G could give him an answer, she spoke up. "Mr. Hanna, can I call you Sam? Would you stay? I know that Mr. Callen would feel much better if he had a wingman and I would feel much less sneaky if I was talking to more then one of the team."

Sam and G looked at each other than nodded at her. "Do you have any clothes or anything to pick up before we go to the 'cover' house?" G asked. "Yes," she smiled. "I have been staying in a hotel outside of Malibu. Once I get checked out we can get to 'our place'." She made Sam smile with the little air quotes she made with her fingers. He was still apprehensive of her, but knew that if Hetty trusted her then he shouldn't be worried.


	3. Chapter 3

When they got to her hotel, Sam decided that perhaps this talk should happen their instead of at the 'cover' house. He didn't know if Hetty was going to want him in on their cover or not, so he would rather not risk her wrath.

Her room was a spacious penthouse suite with a mini pool and hot tub on an outdoor patio overlooking the city. She had the top floor completely to herself and loved it. When Sam walked in, he immediately walked over to the pool and sat down, looking around the room in shock. G walked over to his partner after a few moments and sat down on one of the outdoor lounge chairs. Kitty smiled at them as she followed behind them. They all knew that the balcony was the best place to have this conversation. She had already swept for hidden microphones before she left, but she wanted to be cautious, so she gestured for them to be quiet as she pulled out her electronics detector. Once she was satisfied that there were no hidden peeping devices, she put it away and walked to the men. Since they were both lounging by the pool and hot tub, she decided to sit in the hot tub. She pulled off G's t-shirt and threw it at him.

"Thank you for allowing me to borrow this, but since I am, for lack of a better word, home, I don't believe I will need it anymore."

He looked at her in shock. "How did you know it was mine?"  
>She smiled, "It wasn't Deeks, too big. It wasn't Hanna's, too small. It obviously wasn't Bly's or Nell's and it's not Eric's style. That left you. And yes, before you ask, I have been in communication with Nell and Eric, though we had not officially met until today."<p>

G nodded. She was good as good as ever, that much was obvious from the last week, but especially today. She still took calculated risks, but not stupid ones. She made very educated guesses but not stupid assumptions. He looked over at Sam to see the man studying her. He almost laughed, but he was a trained agent so he kept it in check. She looked over at Sam and said, "Mr. Hanna, I know you do not believe Hetty about me being able to take you, but if you would like a demonstration, they have a boxing ring downstairs or we can have a wrestling match right here. I would rather not hurt you, but if that is what it will take to get you to like me then I will oblige you. I personally would rather just talk it out, but you are a SEAL and that takes certain strengths of its own, so it is your choice."

Sam looked surprised, where had he heard that before? It had been a long time wherever it was. "Maybe another time, newbie, right now I'd like to know more about you."  
>"Thank you. My real name is out of the question since I don't know it myself, but the name I have gone by since I was eight is Irene Le-Faye. She was my best friend as a kid and she was an orphan so becoming her was easy after she died. No one seemed to know that I was missing, so it was easy to become her. I saw her and my mom shot, but I don't know by whom. We were going to the grocery store when it happened. Mom and Irene were in the car when I heard two shots. I was so scared that I hid in the bushes outside of our house. I saw a man who looked Mexican come up to the car and put something inside the car then walk away. Before I could do anything, the car exploded. I was so scared that I didn't know what to do, so I ran. The man had said, "Bien, I got them both." I ran for hours when a policeman picked me up. He asked me what my name was and I said, "Irene. I want my daddy, I want my daddy." They had assumed that Irene was me. I was sent to the mission and lived the rest of my childhood as Irene Le-Faye. There were so many girls at the mission that no one noticed. I was sent from foster house to foster house until I was twelve. For four years I changed houses every few weeks. I was sent to fifty four different foster homes between the ages of eight and twelve. When I was twelve there was a woman who managed to break me out of the fear that I lived in. Most people couldn't handle the crying and nightmares, but she managed and helped me get past it all. She taught me how to forget, which while it was a partial blessing, but now means that I am having a hard time remembering specific details from my past, like my name, my parents names, where I lived. If I had any pets or siblings, it's all a blur now. I remember little flashes, but those are few and far between."<p>

As she spoke, Callen looked at her in confusion. It was rare to have such a traumatic childhood, but in this room there were two of them. They had lived similar lives, neither knowing what a real home was like. They had both been thrown into the cruelty of the world at such young ages. Callen suddenly realized why Hetty had partnered them together for the assignment. Perhaps the two of them could help each other. If that didn't work then at least they could commiserate. Still, something about her struck a memory. He was sure it was her…

"Shannon?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him, smiling sadly. "I'm glad you finally recognized me, Jay. I missed you."  
>"I can't believe it took me so long to recognize you. You have changed a lot in the last six years. Definitely matured physically compared to the scrawny little schoolgirl I left behind in Rio. I love the hair by the way. You look better as a redhead then a brunette."<br>"I should, since red is my natural color. I'm glad you think so though. You always did know how to make a girl feel good. I like yours too, by the way. The shaggy look was so not you. So, since you know who I am now, do I still have your trust or do you want me to earn it back again?"  
>"And what if I said you did?"<br>"Then I will tell you right now, I am not going to jump through another rotary fan to save your scrawny rear end, again. I had bruises for months because of that. And did I even get a thank you? Not on your life. Next time I save your life, I want flowers at the very least, possibly a bottle of champagne and a trip to the spa. Is that too much to ask?"

He laughed hesitantly. She was teasing him again and it was good to hear. He had missed her, but he would never have admitted it to himself. Watching her eyes as they searched his own, he saw the same dark green eyes with beautiful gold flecks. He was disappointed in himself that he had not recognized her right away. Looking over at his partner, he guessed that Sam had no clue what had just happened. He smiled at him.

"Sorry, buddy, I should let you in on the secret. This is Shannon Gray. I met her six years ago on an undercover assignment to infiltrate a group of druggies operating out of Quantico. She was a CIA agent operating in Mexico with the orders to eliminate a drug cartel. She had been given specific instructions and then I showed up. Needless to say, I got made by the cartel, and she figured out that I wasn't actually with them. Instead of following her very specific instructions for the destruction of the cartel, she decided to come in, guns blazing and rescue the poor, shaggy, dirty boy who had found himself caught in the middle of a gun battle with a knife."  
>"Once I got him to safety, I did what any CIA operative would have done. I told him to stay put and went back in to finish the job that he had mucked up."<br>"Let me guess," said Sam. "He didn't listen?"  
>"Very good guess, my astute friend," she replied. "He somehow managed to get his hands on a gun and went in guns blazing. I had set up C4 and a large box of dynamite in advance. I had just set off the timer when he came running in. I had set up enough time to run away, but not much more then that. I go running after him, shooting bad guys, and finally catch up to him at the top of the building. He just about shot me when I tackled him. The two of us went flying through one of those huge factory rotary fans that lead straight to the outside. I got knocked up pretty badly because I ended up on top when the explosion hit. He, of course, walked away with only the impact of me hitting him."<br>"Well, after the explosion, she pulled me into her truck and took off toward the US boarder. We made it, finally, and then she drove us to the hospital. I ended up fine, but she had a major concussion and several bad burns and lacerations. I ended up staying at the hospital for the two days that she was unconscious. When she woke up, she almost shot me herself. She was not allowed to leave the hospital for another two weeks and I could not get a hold of any of my people, so I hung out in the hospital with her for the entirety of her stay. She introduced herself, well, her cover anyway, and I introduced mine, Jake Casper. We hit it off and even though we couldn't tell each other specifics on a lot of things, we became very good friends. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Shannon Gray, but I also knew that Shannon Gray was a cover."  
>"That's alright. I knew that Jake Casper was a cover as well, so we knew everything there was to know about our lies. I am glad that I went back for you, even though it got me laid up for weeks. After that the CIA and NCIS decided that we made a pretty good team, so we ended up partners for about two years. He was the best partner I ever had."<p>

Callen tried not to let his shock show on his face. There was a lot more to the story then she was telling Sam, but Callen was surprised to hear her say that. After what had happened on their last mission he would have sworn she never wanted to see him again.

"That's pretty odd for a CIA agent to go after someone who they might normally consider collateral damage," said Sam.  
>"I was never the cold hearted bastard that the CIA wanted me to be, hence why I changed to NCIS. The fact that I knew Hetty didn't hurt, but if I had known that you were NCIS I might have joined sooner."<br>"So, how did the CIA and NCIS manage to work missions together?"  
>She smiled, "Oh, once our handlers figured out what had happened in Mexico, they decided to team us up at completely random times. We worked on missions involving couples in Russia, Germany, and Barcelona. Seventy two missions, all short term, all in very demanding environments. I learned very early on that G was a team player. Even though he is very good at playing the 'lone wolf' and the 'bad boy' he was always there for his partner. It was nice."<p>

Their eyes met again and G could see that her eyes were dancing. He remembered now how they would do that when she was very happy. He could also tell that she was teasing him. There was too much laughter in her voice for her to be completely serious, but he could see there was a slight hint of truth behind her words. He didn't know why, but he had always read her so well.

Sam looked between the two and smiled. He had never seen G like this before. He had seen G flirt before, but it was always halfhearted and obvious, to Sam anyway, that he would never follow through. This was a completely different side of G. He was laughing, not just smirking or snickering, but actually laughing with this woman who he had known six years ago. He was smiling, a confused smile, but not just a half smirk or an evil grin. Even undercover with Kensi as lovers there was never a real smile. This girl was good. No. It was more then good, it was real.

Sam shook his head. He decided that it was time to put this girl to the test. She seemed to feel his eyes on her, because as soon as he decided he was going to attack, she looked up at him. He hadn't even moved yet. She smirked at him, reminding him of something that he couldn't quite remember, and then she lunged. She caught Sam by surprise, because she had not been poised for the attack. Before he could catch himself, she had him pinned. He smiled, he could break her pin, she was much smaller then he was after all. He flexed his arms and realized that he couldn't break her grip. He flexed his legs and realized that he had nothing to get his footing back with. He flexed his abs and his back and realized that she had him pinned in such a way that he could not move.

He heard her laugh, "Have you had enough Mr. Hanna? Can I let go of you now?" He nodded his head and felt her get off of his back. "That was a dirty trick," he said as he got up, rubbing his shoulder. "It could have been worse. I miscalculated and would have landed both of us in the pool, but I managed to move quickly enough to prevent that. Would you care for a genuine match or do you believe that I can take care of myself?"

"Why did you attack me?"  
>"Oh, please," she said exasperatedly. "You were planning on attacking me. I saw the look in your eyes and the beginning of tension in your muscles. You were going to see if you could catch me off guard."<br>Sam shook his head as he got up. "Alright, have it your way. You and me, rematch at ops before work tomorrow, if you are up for it."  
>"Oh, Mr. Hanna, you will find that I am always up for a good fight. Tomorrow then, I look forward to it."<p>

Sam left the hotel without too much complaining. He was thinking back to four years ago when he was a SEAL. He was looking forward to the actual sparring match between himself and the 'new girl' tomorrow. He and Callen were about the same skill level, but it sometimes got boring fighting the same person all the time. He was looking forward to facing her again.


	4. Chapter 4

Callen helped her check out of her hotel and get her gear moved over to the 'cover' house. She moved into the shared bedroom and began unpacking. G sat on the bed watching her unpack. He was always amazed at how much stuff she managed to fit into three duffle bags. One was completely full of equipment; things like a telephoto lens camera, a tripod, a video camera , a set of 'ears', a laser microphone, and other random high tech gear.

The second bag held her clothes. He was sure she had managed to cram more clothes into that one duffle bag then Hetty kept in all of ops. She had an outfit for everything. She smiled when he had commented on it years ago and said, "A spy needs to be prepared for anything. Besides, in S.E.R.E. we learned how important it was to carry everything with you, just in case you couldn't get back. You learn to pack as much stuff as possible into as small a space as possible and then you learn to do it consistently, so you know exactly how much you can fit into any given space."

The third bag held odds and ends. Things like passports, jewelry, shoes, driver's licenses and credit cards for many different identities, and weapons; lots of weapons. Anything you would need to pull off any type of persona you could imagine. From casual to chic, from rich to poor, from eccentric to fashionable, she had at least one complete identity for it.

"I see you still pack the same. How long have you been doing this?" he asked out of curiosity.  
>"Ten years, why?" she asked back.<br>"Because, you have more identities then I do and I've been doing it for fifteen."  
>"You only worked for the CIA for five years and the DEA for five. Now that you're with OSP for NCIS you have a new identity every five minutes unless you're on a long term op. Remember when we were only been allowed to use identities that have been completely backstopped? If you had been CIA for your entire career then you would have far more identities then I do. Besides, the ones in the bag are only my ACTIVE identities. Any that are NLV are not in my bag and I have a VERY long list of those. It comes with the territory."<br>"Yeah, I suppose you're right, but now you are getting another new one. Starting tomorrow you are going to be Mrs. Gharrett Garrison. Are you ready to be my wife again?"  
>She laughed quietly as she looked into his beautiful blue eyes. "I have been your wife and your mistress, but all things considered, I like being your mistress better, always buying me things, acting sweet and romantic. When I played your wife I got ripped off."<p>

Her eyes were dancing again. He shared in her laughter. He had missed her, as much as he had denied it to himself and refused to share it with anyone else, he had missed her. They had been partners, yes, but they had also been friends. He had wanted to take it further, maybe give in to the cover, but he knew that she would not have allowed him. He wanted to know everything there was to know about this woman, the real woman, not just the cover that she shared with everyone around her.

He knew that her favorite color was blue, but she wouldn't tell him why. He knew that she loved to curl up in a big window on rainy days with a book and a hot drink. He knew she loved to cook, especially over an open flame. He knew that she loved James Darren and Frank Sinatra, though she would never have admitted it to anyone. He knew that she hated chic flicks, but she deeply loved A Walk to Remember. He knew that her favorite ice cream was cookies and cream, but she hated cookie dough because they put too much chocolate in it. He knew she hated chocolate, but loved Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. He knew that she didn't drink very often, but when she did she would skip the beer or wine and go straight for Pendleton Whisky or imported Russian Vodka.

He knew every fleck of gold in her dark green eyes; he knew the shape of her lips, the sound of her voice. He knew so much about her, but he wanted to know more. He didn't know why, but he craved her, the knowledge of her, and the feel of her. Everything that she was, he desired. There was just something about her that he could not let go of.

He had finally approached her during their last undercover operation and kissed her. She had stood in shock for a few moments, than had returned his kiss. Sure, they had kissed for their cover before, but those had been gentle pecks and light caresses; this was different. This was full of passion and unrestrained desire. She had led him to the bed and than began to shed his clothing. With him in his boxers, she had straddled him, fully clothed and kissed him passionately. He had thought that she felt the same as she raised his hands above his head. He let her have control for a few moments and she had handcuffed him to their bed. By the time he had picked the lock, she was long gone. He had not seen or heard from her since.

He had not found out until this year that she was supposed to kill him that night. Her handler had ordered her to kill him because he was getting too close, but she had left him instead. Lucky for him the handler had died in a car accident before he could make it an official CIA request. His death was never an official assignment, so he had not been sought out after she had failed.

He had been so angry with her. What he did not know is that she left him alive because she felt the same way he did. He knew that she was not a cold blooded killer and knew she could not have killed him. He had never figured out why. As soon as his lips touched hers she knew. Every touch, every kiss, every undercover gesture was pushed from her mind and she knew that she was in love. She could never kill him, no matter what was at stake. So she had kissed him back, knowing that if she could have the advantage for a single moment that he would survive. All she cared about was that he lived.

He thought he hated her for six years, had thought her a coward for running away, until this year. This year, he had found a random file on his desk. He had approached Hetty about it but she had told him that she did not leave it for him. He read the file but couldn't believe that their handler had wanted him dead until he heard the recorded phone call. She had been crying, begging for his life. When he thought about it, he realized that she had been crying before he got back that day. He could remember the streaks down her face before he kissed her. Why he hadn't asked her about them he could not remember, but he could remember them clearly now.

Now that Callen knew why she left, he had some serious rethinking to do. He wished that she had confided in him about her mission. They had been partners and beyond that, they had been friends. They spent so much time together; they knew so much about each other. The only problem was, in their line of work, sometimes it was dangerous to know someone so well. If something had happened to her, he knew for a fact he would have done everything within his power to get her back. That was what her handler had been afraid of her doing. If something had happened to him, what would she have done? He didn't know, but he would have hoped that she would have done the same thing. It had taken him most of that year, but he had finally forgiven her. Now, here she was, once again going undercover as his wife and he realized that he still loved her. He loved her as much as he had then, perhaps more now that he knew about her saving his life again.

He looked up at her as she continued to unpack. "I read the report that your handler made of that mission. I understand now. I didn't for a long time, but I do now and I'm glad that you are back; even if you go by Kitty now instead of Shannon."

She relaxed visibly and shook her head. "Why are you taking this so well? I was so mad at myself for so long. How can you forgive me so easily?"

"I didn't," he replied. "It took me five years. I had worked with you for so long and I still didn't trust that you had a good reason for what you did."

"I'm sorry G. I should have told you, but I was afraid of what you would do. And when you kissed me, the only thought in my head was 'I have to save him'. I know that might not make sense to you, but I wanted you to know the truth. I am sorry."

She was standing with her back to him, wrapped up in a lace shawl. He looked at it closer and realized that he had bought it for her on one of their undercover missions together all those years ago. She was swaying slightly as she wrapped it tighter around her shoulders. It had a beautiful pattern hand-stitched into the lace. Roses, tiger lilies, sunflowers, and daisies seemed to dance in the lace as she swayed. He remembered the day he bought it for her, all those years ago.

_**Flashback**_

_Paris, 2004, undercover as Mr. Andre St. Pierre and his French mistress, they were tasked with finding and eliminating a group of French nationals who had managed to get their hands on uranium that had been on route from Saudi to the United States. The United States government had bought a substantial shipment of uranium from the Saudi government. While this was not a well known operation, it had somehow managed to leak out and be stolen. While the carrying case it had been in was shielded, they did not know if they would survive the radiation poisoning if the French had changed containers. _

_After several days of undercover work, they finally managed to locate the group. They had not used the uranium yet, and from the sounds of it, they were planning on ransoming it back to the United States. The only problem was: they could not agree on who to contact. They were arguing over who to contact and how to go about proving that they had it. 'Andre' and 'Marie' had been sitting in a crowded café when they overheard the conversation. The men were obviously not worried about anyone overhearing them, since they were in Paris and their conversation was in Russian. They had no way of knowing that both 'Andre' and 'Marie' spoke fluent Russian, as well as French and several other languages. _

_They followed the men back to their warehouse, hoping that the uranium was there. When they got inside, the men began arguing again. Before 'Andre' and 'Marie' were prepared to storm the warehouse, seven other men arrived. The nine men in the building began arguing over what to do with the uranium. 'Andre' looked at 'Marie' and raised his eyebrow. This was going to be interesting. She held up a finger as if to say 'just wait a moment'. In under a minute gunshots were heard inside the warehouse. 'Andre' started to move when 'Marie' grabbed his shoulder, shaking her head. Once the gunshots stopped, they peaked in. There was only one man left and he was badly wounded. _

_Seeing that the warehouse was clear the two agents entered cautiously. 'Marie' apprehended the Frenchman while 'Andre' went looking for the uranium. It didn't take much looking to find the box. Luckily for both agents the box had not been changed. The uranium was secure in its shielded container with the original seal still in place. _

_Several hours later saw the two agents walking through an outdoor marketplace talking. They had returned the box to the American Embassy and were awaiting their next orders. 'Andre' was visibly relaxed but inside his heart was racing. He knew that 'Marie' was beautiful, but seeing her standing there in the sunset laughing at a joke he had made did something to him. He couldn't explain why, but he wanted desperately to kiss her. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced over at it for a moment. When he looked back she was gone. Turning around in a circle he spotted her three stands over looking at the lace shawl. She fingered it gently, gasping at how beautiful it was. He smiled. If only he could see her that happy all the time. He would do so much to keep that smile on her face forever. It was in that moment he realized that he loved her. Thinking back he had for a while. Why hadn't he figured it out sooner? She was everything he could ever want in a woman: smart but not obnoxious about it, able to hold her own, stood on her own two feet, relied on him when she needed to, stood by him when he needed someone, tough yet feminine, patient beyond anyone else in his experience, passionate. She was everything he ever wanted and now that he knew it, there was no going back. He was in love._

_He walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Do you like the pretty trinket my pet?" he asked her in perfect French. She looked up at him in shock and nodded. He looked at the girl behind the stand, "A beautiful gift, for my beautiful pet." The girl nodded at him and told him how much it was. 'Marie' was shocked, "No, Andre, it is too much. I cannot let you…" He did not even let her finish. He kissed her quickly, stopping her rant. "Nonsense, pet, nothing is too much for you." He plopped down the money for the girl behind the counter and picked up the shawl. Wrapping it around her, he let his arms encase her, pulling her close to him. He felt her shudder as he did, relaxing her body into his. He loved the feeling. He wished they could stay like this forever, but he knew it could not last. They were undercover and they had to move soon. Her voice broke him out of his thoughts. _

"_Andre my love, thank you. It is beautiful. How ever can I repay you?"  
>"Let us go back to our hotel, my sweet. You can thank me all you would like when we get there."<br>"Of course, Andre, that is a marvelous idea."_

_He knew that once they got back to the hotel that they would be packing to leave, not spending any time 'fraternizing' but he did not mind. All he cared about was seeing her happy. Even if it was over something as simple as getting her a gift, he did not mind. He was addicted and he knew it._

_**End Flashback**_

She cleared her throat, bringing him back to the present. He looked up and saw her kneeling in front of him, still sitting on the bed. He shook his head, standing up. "I have to get my gear from the office. I probably won't be back for a few hours. Don't wait up for me." He thought he saw a look of disappointment on her face, but it was quickly hidden behind her calm, quiet mask. "Alright, G. I'll leave the light on." She turned her back to him and took off the shawl, folding it carefully and putting it in a drawer. He noticed that her bags were folded up neatly under the dresser and that she was completely moved in. '_Wow, I was really out of it for a while wasn't I?'_ he asked himself as he walked out the door. She always managed to do that to him. He was always daydreaming about her, always distracted when she was around. She brought out the best and the worst of him in their daily lives.

'_That's true, but she takes it all anyway. She never judges and she helps you fix it when you screw up. That's why you fell in love with her all those years ago and that's why you were so angry when she left. You can't let her in again, because she'll probably just leave again when she has her life figured out. She's in this for herself, not for you. She didn't even know you would be here.'_

He quickly grabbed his keys off of the kitchen counter and ran for his car. Driving as fast as he legally could, he made it back to NCIS OSP headquarters in less than half an hour. He walked in the door and was surprised to see his entire team in the bullpen. "What are you all doing here so late?" he asked. They looked up at him, obviously embarrassed, Kensi looking very hostile, which was strange for her; she was usually much better at controlling her face. "What did you do?" he asked, apprehensive, not entirely sure he wanted an honest answer.

Eric and Nell looked at each other before Nell finally spoke up. "We have been working with Special Agent Invisible for the last week while she tracked Deeks. We have also been working with you as you tracked her. We were only allowed to give you information that you specifically asked us to find. This agent is very good. If we hadn't been in on her half of the scheme we would never have been able to find her. Well, we finally did some digging based on the names that Hetty gave us and it turns out that she was more then just an agent for the CIA, she was a cleaner. She was tasked with infiltrating and destroying targets, leaving absolutely no trace of them. She was also sent to clean up after other agents had botched assignments. She was VERY good at what she did. We got part of her file from Langley, but there are some serious gaps in the timeline. Two years of her career were not sent to us. We can't figure out where she was, what she was doing, or who she was pretending to be."

At this point Eric jumped in, "I have been able to get her history from before she joined 'the agency' up until she was eight. We now know for a fact that she isn't Irene Le-Faye, but we can't actually determine who she was beforehand. The orphanage that she started at did note in her file that she seemed to have gotten lighter hair and shorter on the 29th of February 1991. They never investigated why that would have happened, but someone seemed to notice that she was different. Apparently they were just grateful that she was back with them. They reported the real Irene leaving regularly with a friend, but no one ever mentioned who it was or where they would go. Based on the wording it sounds like two little girls going to the park after school and things like that, but we cannot find any facts on this mystery friend of hers.

The real Irene only ever lived in two foster homes, between age two and age eight. She stayed for a year at the first and four years at the second. The new Irene never stayed at a foster home for more then a month and she was never in an orphanage for more than two. We started counting, but decided it would be wasted effort. Needless to say, she had more foster homes then you did Callen. We are looking into accidents in close proximity to the orphanage around the time that her mysterious changes occurred, but so far nothing has popped out."

Kensi piped up, "Keep looking. The sooner we get her out of here the better. I hate having new people around. They always end up getting hurt or getting one of us hurt. I don't trust this girl."

Sam looked up at G and quirked an eyebrow. G knew that look. Sam was asking him to spill his guts to the rest of the team. G knew he should, knew that he could trust them but he was still hurting. He didn't want to bare his soul when it would be like rubbing salt into the wound. He had just left her at 'their new place' for crying out loud. G met Sam's eyes again and subtly shook his head. Sam rolled his eyes but nodded, stepping forward into the circle.

"Don't be so hasty Kensi. I am sure that if she has been an agent for as long as you have then she is at least worth something. Besides, she has Hetty s approval. Doesn't that count for something?"  
>"I guess, but something just seems off about her. The way she kept looking around like someone was going to eat her alive."<br>"Well, considering what you JUST said, I'm sure her fears were valid. Besides, if you knew nothing about who you were or where you came from, wouldn't you be a little jumpy?"  
>"No. Besides, G lived a very similar life and he turned out just fine."<br>"Exactly! G lived a very similar life and he turned out just fine! That right there should be reason enough for you to at least attempt to get to know her."  
>"Why are you pushing this Sam? After what happened with Dom I would have thought you would be the last person to welcome a new agent. Why are you pushing for me to like her?"<p>

She saw Sam flinch and flick his eyes over to Callen for a split second before he looked at the floor. This was getting weird. First G isn't pushing for them to investigate her and now Sam was pushing for Kensi to try her out. What was going on? Not even Hetty could get that kind of reaction out of Sam. Something else had to be going on here.


	5. Chapter 5

After Sam left the hotel, he drove straight to OSP. When he got there he saw the rest of the team around the plasma. He dropped his bag on the desk and said "What have you got Eric?" The rest of the team jumped, none of them had heard him walk up. Eric clicked a few buttons on his remote and nodded to Nell, who started briefing.

"This is Special Agent 'Irene Le-Faye', codename 'Invisible'. The file the CIA gave us is sparse to say the least, but we did manage to determine her whereabouts for all but two of the years she was with them. While we know where she was, we are not entirely sure what she was doing at all of the places. Most of her operations were detailed very openly by the CIA but there were several that we couldn't get any information on. Six years ago, she was assigned to a handler that was involved in cleaning up after botched missions. The main problem is, we can't determine who her other handler was or who her team mate was. We know that she worked with one man exclusively for a year and a half but we cannot find any information about him, not even a codename."

At this point Eric took over, "approximately four and a half years ago, she was assigned to target and eliminate a drug cartel. She did a very good job. Not only were they destroyed, but they were completely eradicated. We can't determine who her team was nor why this specific cartel was targeted, but we do know that she had a new handler, a new team, and a new identity. She was going by the name of…"

"Samantha Carter," Sam said as the picture came up. It was a picture that he knew very well. He had a copy of it hidden away in his old SEAL photos. It was a picture of her and the rest of his SEAL team. He knew it very well, because he had taken it himself. He had been involved in that black op. He wasn't allowed to talk about it yet, so how they even managed to figure out she was there astonished him. They should not have been able to get even that much information. He looked closer at Samantha Carter. The girl who had planned the whole operation, who had trained with him and his team for months to make sure this mission went off without a hitch, who had earned his trust on the battlefield, looked back at him and he saw it. He saw behind the light blue eyes and the blonde hair. Staring back at him was 'Irene Le-Faye'.

_Damn she's good, a born operator. G would be proud. Wait. That explains why she trained so hard. She had just left G behind and was forced into another op with a completely new team. They didn't even give her time to breathe. No wonder. _

Sam continued to look at the picture as Eric kept talking. "Yeah, how did you know? For the next three years she changed identities like most women change clothes. She had a new completely backstopped identity for every occasion. She has id papers, credit cards, passports. Anything you could possibly need, she has."

At this point Eric brought up the entire collection of different id's he had found of her. There were pictures of her with black hair, brown hair, blonde hair, and red hair. There were pictures with blue eyes, green eyes, dark eyes, light eyes. Any combination you could think of, there was at least one of them. She did a remarkable job of changing her features for each identity as well. Not only did she have color changing contacts, she had the skills with makeup to give her freckles, or get rid of them, make her nose shaped differently, or her cheeks look fatter. She was a master of disguises. It was no wonder he had not recognized her right away.

Kensi shook her head. "Someone could have worked with her for years, walked past her on the street and not have given her a second look. She's better at this then Callen. That is very impressive. She can't be trusted. I don't like her. Something isn't right. I can't put my finger on it, but something doesn't seem right about her to me. She seems so familiar but so strange at the same time."

Sam wanted to protest her reasoning, wanted to defend the person who had saved his life all those years ago, but he couldn't think of a way to do it without telling them about the mission to Columbia.

_**Flashback**_

_He entered the briefing room and was surprised to see a tall thin woman standing behind the podium. Usually their mission assignments were given to them by high ranking Navy officials, but everything about this woman screamed 'breakable'. She was dressed in black dress pants and blazer. She didn't have a shirt on under her blazer so you could just make out the tops of her breasts. She had very long blonde hair and cold blue eyes. Sam shivered, they reminded him of BUDs swims early in the morning, the water was always so cold. As she looked around the room, her face seemed to soften, causing her eyes to warm to an acceptable temperature._

"_Hello," she began, once they had all been seated. "My name is Samantha Carter. I would thank you all for coming, but as you had no choice in the matter, it seems rather pointless. You have been assigned to my taskforce for a black op. You all know what that means; no contact with anyone for any reason for the next six months. I know that puts me in your bad books already, but I want you to know, it was not my idea; I am following orders the same as you."_

_Sam had shaken his head at that point and looked over at his swim buddy. Kyle shrugged and looked back at the woman in front of them as she continued the briefing. She gave very detailed information in a very 'no nonsense' sort of way and then asked for questions. Everyone seemed slightly hesitant to ask but finally Sam stuck up his hand. "You talked like you had been there and seen these things yourself. What is your part in this whole operation? Normally some big brass briefs us on intelligence that he got passed to him an hour beforehand."_

_She smiled at him, "Well Mr." she looked down at her paper and then back up at him, "Hanna that would be because I am the one who gathered the info. I know the INS, outs, and upside downs of this information because I am the one who got it. Now, as far as what my part in this whole operation, I will be going with you on this thing. Like I said at the beginning of the briefing, you have been assigned to my taskforce for this black op. Now, if you are worried about my presence getting some of you killed, let me just assure you that I have been in this business for almost six years now and I am still kicking."_

_Sam looked over at his team again and saw a few people shrug but Kyle shook his head. He knew Sam well enough to know that he was planning something stupid. Before Sam could say anything, she was right in front of his chair. He looked surprised because he hadn't even heard her move. She smiled at him, "Mr. Hanna, if this were war, you would be dead. I think you need to rethink your opinion of me."  
>"Just because you can sneak up on a SEAL doesn't mean you could actually kill him in a fair fight."<br>"Oh, you want a fair fight now? Interesting…let me clue you in on something Mr. Hanna. You are a SEAL, so you should know the answer to this. Which is better: A full out brawl where you break everything in sight before killing your adversary or a one hit one kill where no one notices that the person is dead?"_

_Sam nodded, "point made, but missions don't often go exactly as planned and I am worried that if something were to happen to you, my team would get killed trying to save you."_

_Her smile widened, "well then, Mr. Hanna, why don't we test that theory? I have nowhere to be for the next two hours so if you SEALS want to pick on the poor CIA girl, I am up for it. Now, I might just be some poor fragile little girl who has never seen action before, or I am going to hand you your assets on a silver platter. Do you think you are up for it?"_

"_Sam, don't do it," said his swim buddy. Kyle apparently saw something in this girl that Sam was not, but Sam wasn't about to back down. She was looking at him innocently, but he could not detect any false modesty. She looked like a little kitten, perched on the back of the chair in front of him, her hands clasped together in her lap._

"_Fine, is the briefing over?" asked Sam.  
>"Yes, Mr. Hanna, but the question is: are you done or do you want some more."<br>"Sam, don't do it."  
>"Ten minutes in the auxiliary gym. I'll be waiting," she said as she gracefully stood up and left the room.<em>

_Ten minutes later saw Sam Hanna and the rest of his SEAL team walking into the gym. While some of them thought this was a bad idea, they still supported their own. They saw her standing there in a long sleeved shirt that was obviously too big for her and long pants that she had rolled up at the waist to keep up. _

_Sam had changed from his SEAL working uniform to his gym clothes. His t-shirt said "Property of the United States Navy" on it and his shorts were Navy blue. She was barefoot and so he decided to do the same. It wouldn't be the first time. She was stretching on the mat when they walked in. He walked up to her as SEALs surrounded the mat. _

_Smiling up at him she said, "First, we lay some ground rules. Number one: NO pulling punches. I know how you SEALs get about hitting women, but I know when someone is cheating, so don't bother. Number two: no weapons, only bodies. If we start picking up things, one of us will end up dead, and I do not intend for it to be me. Number three: no taunting. I have heard it before and I will probably hear it all again, but we are warriors, so I want you to fight like one, not like a schoolyard bully. Understood? Do you find these terms acceptable or should I call you scared and go do my normal workout?"_

_Sam thought about it and laughed. "Rule Number Three: no taunting. Looks like you broke your own rules already. I agree, but that goes both ways."_

"_Very good, Mr. Hanna, I was wondering if you would comment on it or not. I agree to my terms and since you did, we are ready to begin."_

_They stood on opposite sides of the mat, surrounded by Sam's fellow SEALs. He knew that they would not interfere, they were honorable and he trusted them with his life. He saw Kyle standing behind her, shaking his head. _'What does he see in her that I don't?'_ thought Sam hesitantly. _Oh well, it's too late to do anything about it now._ He saw her give him a slight bow and he did the same. As she pulled her arms up into fists, he followed suit. She stood there, not moving a muscle, waiting for his attack. _

_He started moving around her like a good boxer would, but she just stood there, unmoving, following him with her eyes alone. Finally he rushed her, but before he could get a punch in, she had hit him in the back of the elbow and spun away unscathed to the other side of the mat._

_He stopped, shocked, his elbow hurting as he turned to face her again. She was smirking as he came at her again. This time he got two punches in before she spun away. She had landed six hits to different parts of him, the place where his neck met his shoulder, his side, his wrist, the inside of his other elbow._

_He heard her laugh as he turned around to look at her again, "What happened to Rule Number One," she asked. Sam looked at her, astonished. He had been pulling his punches, but only a little. She had not been punching him at all, he realized. She was hitting him with the edge of her hand, like a blade. He didn't understand why until he fell down._

_Once he regained consciousness a minute or so later, he looked up into the face of his swim buddy, Kyle. "I told you it was a bad idea Sam, but did you listen? No, of course you didn't. You had to go off and get your butt kicked like some school bully. All talk and no action."_

_Sam shook his head. How had she managed to pull that off? It didn't make any sense to him. Sitting up he saw her kneeling on his other side, wiping his forehead with a towel. "Before you ask how I K.O. d you without a single punch, I want you to think back on your S.E.R.E. training. What are the seven nerve centers that you are supposed to aim for?"_

_He shook his head. She had hit him seven times and every single one of them had been one of the nerve centers that he would normally aim for with a knife, but since he was weaponless he had not thought about them. _

"_Just because you do not have a knife to cut them open does not mean they are not effective. Much like a choke hold, if you hit the right spots with the proper force, they will pass out. Now, I couldn't kill you by doing that, but it did incapacitate you for long enough for me to say, slit your throat or break your neck without too much effort. Now, are you ready to trust that I won't get your men killed during this operation or not?"_

_Sam shook his head, still trying to clear it. His men stood all around him, watching for his reaction. He wasn't sure what to say to this agent._

"_Before you make a snap decision, I will give you more time to think about it. We are going to be training for the next four months on how to take down this cartel. I will be working with you every step of the way so this operation goes off flawlessly. I will be training when you train, I will be running when you run. Anything your team does, I will be doing. If you find at the end of the next four months, if you do not trust me on the battlefield, then I will step aside and let you run the operation as you see fit. I trust your team's judgment Mr. Hanna. I hope that you would too."_

_She stood up and pulled off the big baggy shirt that she had been wearing to reveal a tank top. Pulling off the pants, she was wearing 'cute' shorts. She threw the clothes back at Kyle. "Thank you for allowing me to borrow your clothes. I do not believe that I sweat in them, so they should still be clean." As she walked out of the room, all of the SEALs were watching her. They could all see the muscles that had been well hidden until this point. She was not butch by any means, but she was definitely well defined. Sam shook his head again. This was going to be a very long six months._


	6. Chapter 6

_**Continue Flashback**_

_Four months later Sam found himself with his team sitting on the beach in the Dominican Republic passing around a Fireball. He looked around at the people assembled there and knew that he trusted them all with his life, even the little blonde girl who currently had the bottle of whiskey. She had managed to keep up with the team, even surpassing most of them during physical training. She didn't look it, but she was definitely one tough cookie. _That is why mom told you never to judge a book by its cover, although, Samantha is more like a freaking onion._ He looked up at her again and smiled when he saw her holding the bottle out to him. He took it from her and nodded, taking a large sip before passing it on to his swim buddy, Kyle. He shook his head again, somehow Kyle had known that there was more to this girl then anyone else would have guessed. _

_He watched as Kyle took a sip of the liquor and handed it off to the next SEAL. Shaking himself a little, Kyle stood up and walked over to Samantha, holding his hand out to help her stand up. She took it, looking at him inquisitively. He jerked his head off to one side and leading her in that direction. Sam was curious, but he knew that Kyle was one of the few SEALs that she had not beaten in any of their training exercises. She had even managed to best Sam a dozen or so times in the last four months, and no, he had not gone easy on her. _

_He was surprised to see Kyle coming back alone moments later looking disappointed. He looked at his buddy only to see Kyle shake his head, grab the whiskey and take a large swig. Someone asked Kyle what was up but all he said was, "she got a phone call. When it was done she said she wanted to be alone. I think it really rattled her, but she didn't show it. I just kind of felt it you know?" Taking another swig of the whiskey, he passed the bottle around._

_An hour later Samantha still hadn't come back, so Sam decided to go after her. He found her a hundred yards from the group, sitting in the water. He saw her hair straighten itself out as it dripped water down her face, arms and back. For some reason, he knew that not all the drops on her face were sea water. He reached out and wiped her face with his hand and picked her up. She took a sniff of his shirt and seemed to relax. It had taken him months to finally get the courage to ask her why she did it. She told him that everyone has their own specific scent and that if she smelled it once, she could identify the person by their smell. He hadn't believed her until this moment._

_Most of the time she was subtle about it, but if you started paying attention, like he had during the last four months of training, you would notice. She always seemed to tense up when she smelled Ben Burns or Tyler Harrington, but when Sam or Kyle were around she would relax. He liked that thought. It meant she trusted them._

"_What's wrong Sam I am?" he asked her, calling her the pet name they called each other. She didn't respond right away, just shaking in his arms. At first he thought she was shivering, which would be understandable after the Pacific bath she had just taken, but he slowly came to realize that she was crying. He heard her choke out, "I do not like green eggs and ham." He laughed quietly and hugged her tighter to his body as he carried her toward the rest of the SEAL team. _

_Once he reached their campfire, he nodded at Kyle who stood up immediately and followed him. Kyle ran ahead to the road and hailed a taxi. Once they arrived safely at their CIA safe house and Samantha was dry, they started trying to get her to open up. She sat between the two men on the couch in the large living room. She was wrapped in a large fluffy blanket with her head on her knees and she was shaking again. Sam and Kyle exchanged looks. This was not the girl who had bested most of SEAL team six. Whoever this stranger was she needed their help. The main problem was: they had no idea how to._

_Both men sat quietly as they waited for Samantha to calm down. When she finally stopped shaking she stood up, shaking her head and turned to face the two men. "I am sorry. That was unacceptable and should never have happened." Sam and Kyle looked at each other. This was definitely the Samantha that they had learned to love over the last four months. Sam raised his eyebrow at Kyle who shrugged then nodded. "Samantha, you need to sit down and tell us what happened," he said in calm but no nonsense tones. Samantha had never heard Kyle so forceful, so she sat down immediately without thinking. She caught herself opening her mouth to answer him before she realized what she was doing._

_Sam, realizing that she was going to talk to Kyle, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back into his chest. He held her like a father would hold a crying child. She seemed to relax even more as he held her. Kyle reached up to move some of her blonde hair out of her face before taking her hand in his and stroking it while he waited for her to her speak. She finally sighed and started to speak._

"_I have been a member of 'the agency' for almost seven years. I should be stronger then this. I should not have let my personal feelings get in the way of a job, but I did. I was so stupid; I can't believe I broke two rules. Rule #10: Never get personally involved on a case. Rule #11: When the job is done, walk away. I broke both of them and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Wait, I might have broken rule # 12 too. Wait, no, that one doesn't count, but I definitely broke Rule #1. FUCK!"_

"_Wow. Slow down there kiddo. What is Rule #1?"  
>"Never screw over your partner."<br>"Who did you screw over Sam I am?"  
>"My partner, haven't you been listening?"<br>"We have Sammy, but you started in the middle. It's a little hard to follow when you have no idea where you are. Where did all these rules come from? Are they CIA rules?"  
>"No, they are NCIS rules. I learned them from my partner, who learned them from his old teacher. They are very important rules to live by. There are about fifty of them, but I'm sure there are probably more by now. They are about how to work as a team. There is a rule for every possible situation."<br>"Why is it so important not to break these rules?"  
>"Because, they were HIS rules; HE taught them to me, but I broke so many of them when I left. FUCK!"<em>

_Sam and Kyle looked at each other. She was talking in complete sentences, but she was not making any sense. At least she was answering their questions. Maybe if they asked the right ones it would start making sense. Kyle tried again. "Who taught you these rules?"_

"_My old partner; we were together for two years, working on missions for 'the agency' and during undercover operations for the Navy Criminal Investigative Service. Sometimes NCIS would lend him to us and sometimes they would lend me to NCIS. We were a great team. We never had a mission go south on us, we always got our guy and we never got caught."  
>"How many missions did you go on together?"<br>"Seventy-two; most of them were a week or less each, but some of them were much longer. We were unstoppable. We made such a great team."  
>"Why aren't you partners anymore?"<br>"My handler put a request in to 'the agency' that we not be allowed to work together anymore on the basis that something had happened on our last mission. There had been a second group in the area working on a separate project and they had been compromised. Our mission went off without a hitch but the report that my handler turned in made it seem like the mission had been pulled off by the skin of our noses and that we had been the reason that the other team failed their mission. It wasn't true and the other team acknowledged that, but my handler had enough sway within 'the agency' to get our separation approved. As we were getting ready to leave the country, he contacted me. He told me that I was under direct orders to kill this NCIS agent and to report back to him at Langley. He had a plane ticket lined up for me under a different name along with instructions on where to pick up my new identity. I cried for an hour before he came back. I don't know why, but he kissed me. I knew as soon as he did that I loved him, but I had been ordered to kill him. What was I supposed to do?"  
>"You killed your own partner?"<br>"NO! I COULDN'T! I kissed him back and led him to our bed. We were never intimate during our time together, but I had respected him so much and realized then that I loved him. I took off his shirt and pushed him onto the bed. He reached for my shirt, but I grabbed his hands. He let me be in control of it. That wasn't normal for him. He never should have let me take charge. He would follow my lead during missions, but only when he didn't have a better idea. He trusted me with his life and what did I do? I abandoned him. I put his arms above his head like I was going to pin him down and I handcuffed him to the headboard. Before he could say anything I kissed him again and left. All of my gear was in the other room, so I picked it up and left. I couldn't kill him, I just couldn't. I love him so much."_

_She trailed off, her shoulders shaking against Sam as she started crying again._

_Kyle and Sam looked at each other, confusion on their faces. Kyle decided that he might as well keep pushing. She had been cooperative so far, might as well push their luck._

"_So, what brought all of this out tonight?"  
>"I got a phone call from 'the agency'. They told me that my handler had been killed in a car accident. I asked about the last report that he had filed and they said that the last report had been the one about the botched mission. I asked about their orders regarding the death of the NCIS agent and they said that they had no record of the order. To anyone outside 'the agency' that could mean that they just aren't admitting to it, but to an agent it means that there was never any order given at all. We have records of everything, but you will never get them to admit that to anyone outside 'the agency'. He's alive and the CIA doesn't want him dead."<br>"So what's the problem?"  
>"Don't you understand? I can never see him again. First, the CIA basically forbade it. Second, he has to hate me. He kissed me and I left him. I abandoned him in a foreign country with no way of getting back to the States. I left him handcuffed to a hotel bed, now granted he could pick the lock, but still. I'd hate me, I do hate me. Wouldn't you; especially if you didn't know why?"<em>

_Sam and Kyle looked at each other. They were starting to understand. Sam hugged her closer to his chest and looked down at her. "Hey, I think he will understand. If he ever finds out then I'm sure he will forgive you. Yeah, I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you should be so hard on yourself. You were following orders. Besides, if I was him and I found out you left me alive when you had been ordered to kill me, I'd be very happy with you."_

_She sniffled. "Thanks Sam. Thank you, Kyle. You two always know how to make me feel better."  
>"My pleasure," Sam said.<br>"Well, it's not like it's ever been this hard before," said Kyle with a smile on his face. "But yeah, you are very welcome blonde."_

_**End Flashback**_

Sam was brought out of his reverie when he heard Callen clear his throat. Sam looked up, guilt on his face. It wasn't until about a year ago that he had figured out that Callen was the NCIS agent that "Samantha" had been referring to that night. When he did, he went searching for any clues he could find regarding their last mission together. He finally found out that Hetty had the handler's phone call on tape along with his uncensored report to the CIA. How she had gotten them he had no idea, but he was very glad that she was willing to give him a copy, which he just happened to leave on Callen s desk.

Once Callen had read the report Sam could see a change in him. He stopped moping so much and really started to think about things that other people said. He started listening to advice from his partner, though he didn't always follow it. Sam was surprised how much this one woman had affected him. _If she was the person that he trusted most for two years then of course it would have affected him. He cared about her opinion; he took her ideas into consideration and cared when she was emotional. He loved this girl,_ Sam realized as he thought back to their interaction at the hotel. _Ok, so if that's the case, why is he here now? Why isn't he back with her schmoozing and reminiscing? Maybe he's just not ready yet._

The team was exhausted. They had already had a long week and now they had all voluntarily stayed late working on the "new girl" project. Eric and Nell were here because they were sure that there was no information that could hide from them. Kensi was there because she wanted this girl gone as fast as possible and she wanted to know why everyone was acting strangely because of her. Sam wanted to put all the pieces together and decided that maybe this girl was the answer to all of their problems somehow. Callen was there because he didn't want to go back to his 'cover' house with her. He was afraid of what he might do alone with her so close. Deeks was there because everyone else was there, so he figured, 'might as well'.

At seven am Hetty arrived with a slightly disgruntled Kitty. She knew that she should not have been disappointed when Callen did not come 'home' at night, but she had been. She knew that he had probably spent most of the night checking out her past, but she never expected what she found when she walked in the door. Sprawled out on desks, chairs, and couches was the entire team. For some reason they had all spent the night at OSP.

Hetty looked at her and made a gesture with her hands. Kitty nodded and walked over to the little kitchen where she put on the kettle and made some coffee. While she waited for the hot drinks to be done, she decided that breakfast would not go amiss so she opened the fridge to find that there were all the ingredients for her 'world famous' omelets. Pulling out the bacon, ham, cheese, sour cream, milk, and eggs, she looked around for a pan. Before she could begin opening drawers, Hetty was there, handing her the perfect omelet pan. "Thanks Hetty," she whispered, knowing that it was unlikely that anyone would wake up, but deciding to err on the side of caution.

"You are most welcome Isabella. You are definitely going above and beyond for the team. Why?"  
>"Oh, Hetty, you know me. I love cooking. Besides, I want them to like me. I know that once Sam figures out that I was 'Samantha' he is going to freak out. I want him on my side Hetty. I think Deeks has been on my side since he saw me in that ridiculous bikini. Kensi seems to think that I'm encroaching on her territory, so I need to figure out a way to get her on my side. Eric and Nell seem to think that I am an interesting mystery that they have to solve. As far as Callen goes, I think it is too late to fix that bridge. Oh, Hetty, I wish I could fix what happened between us, but I don't think he'll let me."<p>

Hetty smiled at the woman making breakfast. "Oh, I don't know dear. I believe that you have a chance. I actually wanted to talk to you about staying with NCIS once we solve the mystery of your identity."  
>"Hetty, I am not sure that is such a good idea. The entire team hates me. I would love to stay, but if they don't trust me than there is no point."<br>"Sam trusts you."  
>"Are you sure?"<br>"I think he has figured out that you were once 'Samantha' but he doesn't know how to proceed. Maybe you should take a page from Kyle's book and just beat it out of him."  
>"I thought you didn't condone physical violence unless it is necessary for a case; and how did you know about Kyle? I didn't tell you about him."<br>"That is true, but I believe that it is necessary for this case. As far as Kyle is concerned, he was in BUDs with Sam and he helped you through a hard situation with Callen. I make it my business to know as much about my agents as I can, so when two of them know the same person in more than just a passing friendly manner I take notice."  
>"That may be true, but then how did you know about the beating he gave Sam?"<br>"When I found out there was someone who could beat Sam I had to find out what happened. I had never seen anything like it until I watched the recording of how you beat him. I must say, if it worked for Kyle why not try it yourself?"  
>"Because, Kyle has the whole 'man code' to back him up. When two guys are upset at each other, they beat each other to a pulp then shake hands and it is done. With two girls they talk behind each other's backs or they sabotage each other, but with a guy and a girl nothing ever gets resolved."<p>

Hetty looked at her sadly. "That is not always true my dear. If you are strong enough you can make them see reason."  
>"I don't want to have to resort to violence every time I want one of them to understand."<br>"I didn't mean physically strong. I meant that if you have the strength of character. If you are strong enough to stand by them in any situation then they will come around. Now, I still think you should take a whack at Mr. Hanna. He could use a good kick in the proverbial pants."

Kitty smiled. She knew that Hetty was right, she always was. Now, she needed to figure out how to make it happen. Sam would be the easy one. Callen and Kensi would take a lot of hard work.

Once the omelets were ready, she grabbed a large serving plate out of the cupboard and dished them up. She grabbed a large tray and loaded it down with six plates, spoons, and coffee cups. She put the omelets and the now ready pot of coffee on it as well and walked out to the bullpen. Everyone was still asleep as she made her way as quietly as possible into the midst of the team. Putting down the tray quietly she walked out of the bullpen and upstairs to the ops center to get some work done.

Kensi woke first, smelling the fresh coffee. Seeing the food on the table she looked around, but the only person she saw was Hetty at her desk. _Strange,_ she thought. _Hetty doesn't normally get us food when we stay overnight._ Grabbing a plate Kensi dished up and began eating. Hearing her sit down in her chair again, the rest of the team woke up. "Morning Sunshine," said Deeks, smiling at her. "Awe, you made us breakfast. That's sweet." He stood up grabbing an omelet and a cup of coffee.

As everyone dished up Kensi said, "I didn't do it. It was here when I woke up."  
>"And you trust it enough to eat it?" asked Deeks, now looking at his omelet suspiciously.<br>"Seriously?" said Sam, "It was in the office and Hetty is sitting in her office. It's still warm, so Hetty has been here for longer than it has. I'm sure she would say something if it was poisoned."

Deeks sighed with relief, "good, cause it tastes amazing." He took a huge bite before sitting back in his chair looking completely relaxed.

As the entire team, including Eric and Nell, ate the wonderful breakfast in front of them, Kitty was upstairs looking through reports of accidents around February 29, 1991. She had always believed that this would have the answer, but she had never had the resources to search for every single reported accident in the country on that date until now.

The rest of the team had been working on her life from the time she had come to the orphanage until the present, but she knew that the answers she needed would not be found there. She knew that part of her history perfectly. All her memories from after the accident were perfectly clear, but before the accident were fuzzy. It was like watching a T.V. through a very full fish tank. All the images were blurred and didn't make any kind of sense. You couldn't focus on what was behind the tank because you kept getting distracted by what was in the tank.


	7. Chapter 7

Weeks later Kitty was upstairs in ops going through accident reports. She knew that everyone else was downstairs completely occupied with their latest case. She would be alone for a while. She opened a secret file on Eric's computer. The soothing voice of Eric's computer came to her ears. She smiled as she changed the frequencies of the voice so that it became a man's voice. She knew what frequencies to use, so it only took her forty-two seconds to change the voice from a 'soothing' woman's to one almost identical to Callen s. She knew if she wanted it perfect it would take more tweaking, but it was close enough that she smiled.

She had the program begin reading the accident reports to her aloud as she sat back and listened, closing her eyes to help her focus better. Seventeen reports later she heard a man walking up the stairs to ops. She listened to the steps and knew that it was Sam. She trusted Sam, so she ignored him and kept listening. She knew when he entered ops, but he stood behind her watching silently as she listened to the reports. Three reports later she sighed and said, "Yes, Mr. Hanna? Is there something I can help you with?"

He was surprised that she knew he was there. "What are you doing?"  
>"I figured that the only way for me to figure out who I am is to figure out what the accident in my memory is. Once I know which one it is I can figure out who was supposed to have died and why they didn't figure out that I was not dead."<br>"What will you do once you figure out who you are?"

She sighed, sounding sad somehow, "I really don't know. Maybe if I know who I'm supposed to be, then I can stop being the person that everyone wants me to be and start being myself. I hate not knowing who I really am because it means at the end of the day I am only an alias. It doesn't matter what alias you use on any given day. You can go home to your wife and kids and you are still Sam Hanna, retired United States Navy SEAL, husband and father, friend and lover. I don't have that. I can't even go home at the end of a day and say 'my name is fill-in-the-blank and my favorite color is blue'. I have to say 'my current alias is blank and her favorite color is pink'. My entire life is a lie."

Sam looked at her leaning back in a chair with her eyes closed and he saw it again. He saw the girl who had broken down in front of him and Kyle all those years ago. He saw the fragile girl who lived underneath the hard shell that was this woman. Sam sighed. He wanted to hold her again like he did that night so many years ago. He wanted to pick her up and shield her from all the pain that this world had to offer. He wanted to erase all of her heartaches and tell her that it would be alright.

"Why didn't you take me up on our rematch?" she asked quickly, changing the subject.

He looked at her in shock, "because I am tired of going easy on people. I have been training hard since our fight and I don't want to hurt you."

He thought he heard her say something like, "I wish" but he couldn't be sure. She opened her eyes and sat up, "you and me, in the gym, ten minutes." When he looked up, she was gone. That was what she had said to him all those years ago. Maybe it was time he talked to her and figured out what was going on. It was time he stood up for her, because she had obviously been waiting for him to make the first move this time. Now she was finally making her own move. Maybe she had finally given up on him.

As he walked down the stairs to the gym, he spotted Callen talking with Kensi and Deeks. They looked up as he passed. "Where are you going big guy?" asked Kensi. "To the gym," he replied. "I have a sparring match to get to."  
>"Against who?" asked Deeks, "no one here will fight you any more except Callen. Kensi is still mad that you have taken it easy on her all along."<br>"Against Samantha," he said and kept walking.  
>"Who's Samantha," asked Deeks when he saw Callen s expression of confusion.<br>"Sam told me about this girl once who had trained with his SEAL team four years ago. She was a heck of a fighter; she even beat Sam more often than not. He said that she had a breakdown one night. He said that she almost killed a guy and that she had to choose between his life and her own. She chose his, but ended up saving both. She said the guy hated her and that all she ever wanted was for him to be happy; she said he was the only man she had ever loved and he would never know. None of that made sense to me until now. Maybe this Samantha was our Kitty."

"O.K.," said Deeks. "What does that have to do with us? Why does it matter who she loved and if she had a breakdown." He never got his answer as Callen ran toward the gym. Deeks and Kensi looked at each other and followed. By the time they reached the gym Sam and Kitty were in full swing. Sam had improved a lot over the last four years, but this girl was something else. She took blows that everyone could see were full swing from Sam without batting an eyelash. She wasn't defending herself. She seemed to be on the offensive, but she wasn't actually hitting him. She would invite a hit from him and then take it without ever hitting him herself. What was she doing? That was one sure way to get killed. Deeks watched, remembering his first fight against Sam. Man that had been one very painful night. He couldn't believe that this girl was taking all that punishment. She looked so fragile, but the hits she was taking proved otherwise. Deeks was snapped out of his reverie by Kensi s quiet voice. "Come on, you stupid girl," she whispered to herself, "hit him. She's going to get herself killed."

Before anyone could blink the fight was over. She stepped forward and took two swings at Sam. One swing was misdirection, causing Sam to move down and left to block the blow. The second swing was a full force elbow to the side of Sam's neck. Sam fell down onto the ground, temporarily knocked unconscious. She looked up at the other agents and Deeks was surprised to see that she was not breathing heavily. He tried to joke it off, "well, you're going to be sore tomorrow."

She managed a sad smile. "No," she replied, glancing at Callen, but before any of them could figure out what the look meant, she disappeared into the girl's locker room. Kensi looked over at Callen, "what did she mean 'No'? He was using her as a human punching bag!" Callen looked up at her and said, "let us take care of Sam first, then we all need to talk."

Several minutes later the team was sitting in Nate's old office because it had a door and comfy furniture. Sam had an icepack on his neck but otherwise looked no worse off then normal. Kensi and Deeks sat on one couch, Callen was in the armchair, and Sam was sprawled out on the other couch. Sam looked up at Callen and said, "So, who should start this party? You want first dibs or should I?"

Callen said, "If you want to start go ahead. Her story is backwards enough as it is, might as well keep going backwards."

Sam managed a half smile. He looked over at Kensi and Deeks who were justifiably confused. "I met 'Agent Invisible', as Nell likes to call her, four years ago. My SEAL team was assigned to her for the destruction of a Columbian drug cartel. When I first saw her I assumed that she was just another suit who talked big but had no idea about the real world. Boy was I wrong. She called me on it almost immediately and my swim buddy Kyle warned me about crossing her. Well, I did anyway and I got my butt whooped then too. She proved that she belonged with us and she earned my trust. One night before the mission she got a phone call and left the group. Kyle and I found her a few hours later crying. Long story short she basically broke down, which was weird for her. She was always so strong. I never imagined that underneath her tough exterior was such a broken little girl. She told me about this man that she loved and how she could never get him back. She had done something that she felt was unforgivable, but as long as he was safe and happy she could live with it. I didn't find out until two years ago who this man was. I am not even sure that HE knows that he's the man. I see her again for the first time in years and instead of welcoming her back with open arms, I abandon her. I thought she was strong enough to make the rest of you like her, so I sat back and did nothing. I should have helped her transition into the team but I didn't. I really failed on the 'No man left behind' this time. If it had been anyone else from those days I would have been right there with him, making sure he found his place, but with her I did nothing. I knew she was strong, so I just assumed she would do it on her own. I was wrong. She's not 'one of the guys' anymore. She is a lone wolf now."

Callen nodded when Sam looked up at him. "Ok, I guess that means it's my turn. First, I'll start with how I know her. Do you remember how Eric and Nell are missing the identity of her partner six years ago?" He looked around, catching everyone's eyes, waiting for them to nod before he continued.

"Well, I was her partner. We were paired together for two years, we completed seventy-two missions together and we were inseparable. We knew everything about each other and I got too close. On our last mission together her handler ordered her to kill me. She didn't, obviously, considering I'm here. I didn't know what was going on and so I hated her for restraining me, abandoning me, and rejecting me. At the beginning of the year I found a file on my desk containing secret communiqués from her handler to the CIA detailing our last mission and his opinion of us working together. In the file was also a recorded tape with her orders to kill me. She begged for my life and even cried, which was not normal for her. She was always so strong but she cried for me. I still don't know why she spared me, why she wanted to keep me alive, but when she left me in the hotel I never saw her again."

Callen looked over at Sam, who nodded as if wanting him to continue. "It took a nice long chat with Hetty two months ago to finally realize that I had forgiven her. Now that I knew what was going on it made sense why I couldn't find her for the last four years. The hardest part was watching her move into our 'cover house'. She kept all of the gifts that I had bought her over the two years that we were partners. Seeing them all spread out like they were special was killing me. I just wish that she felt the same way."

Kensi and Deeks shared a look of shock. This was not the normal Callen that they were used to. He was usually so closed off about his life, but he was talking about her. Was she the reason he never shared personal information with anyone?

"Did you love her?" asked Kensi.  
>"Yes," said Callen.<br>"Do you still love her?" asked Deeks.  
>He paused for a few moments, almost like he didn't know what to say or, more accurately, how to say it. "Yes," he said again, quietly, as if afraid to say it out loud.<br>"Well then," said Kensi quietly, "we have a problem. You two have probably driven her off. Sam, what did she mean the beating you gave her was nothing?"

Sam sighed, shifting his weight on the couch and said, "I just found out about a week ago. Callen probably knows this from when they were partners, but she has lost most of her ability to feel pain. Many of her foster parents beat her. That's why she was never in one place for more than a few weeks. She can feel that something is touching her, but beyond that there is nothing until days later. If she sprains an ankle or pulls a muscle she feels it, but not to the extent that we do. When she gets a bruise she doesn't feel it at all. It is both a blessing and a curse because she can push herself further than most people, but her body does not tell her when she needs to stop until it is almost too late."

"Why are we just finding out about all of this now?"  
>"Because it wasn't my place to tell you, it's G's. Now that he is talking I can fill in some of the blanks, including the fact that she plays with that bracelet of hers that I know she got from G, even though you can't usually see it under her long sleeves."<br>"She still wears that bracelet? That was the first gift I ever bought her when we went undercover!"  
>"Wow, Callen, for a Special Agent you aren't very observant," said Kensi. "Even I have seen it and I don't even like the girl."<br>"I haven't seen it," said Deeks. "What's so special about it?"  
>"Of course you haven't seen it Deeks. When she's around you spend most of your time checking her out. Not exactly a great way to figure someone out," said Kensi angrily.<br>"It's a Russian Spiral Bracelet. I only paid two American dollars for it, so it's not even valuable. I have no idea why she would have kept it," said G, interrupting Kensi s angry tirade. She looked at him like he was stupid; well, he was a guy, so maybe…"It had sentimental value. She thinks it is special so she keeps it."

G looked shocked for a moment. She thought his gift was special? Why? That didn't make sense. The agent he had known had never showed sentimentality for anything from her past. The fact that she had kept not only the shawl, which had been expensive so it was understandable, but also the bracelet, made him wonder what else she had kept. _Wait, I should be wondering WHY she kept it not WHAT she kept. Unless WHAT she kept will help me understand WHY she kept it. She was very romantic, even if she rarely showed it, so I guess being sentimental isn't far from that…_

G was lost in thought again and Kensi was astonished. She had thought it would be obvious. She had noticed the girl playing with her bracelet when she was nervous or upset. Whenever she needed comfort she would play with it and it seemed to calm her down. _She's in love,_ thought Kensi, _and since G is the one who gave it to her, she has to be in love with him. Men are so blind._ She looked up at Sam and saw the same knowledge echoed in his eyes and realized that Sam was not as blind as he acted.

"Ok G," said Sam. "I think we have a huge mess to clean up. I think you and I have a long weekend of groveling in front of us. My wife and son are out of town visiting her parents so we can do this at my place if you want."

G sighed, knowing that Sam was going to do this even if G didn't. "Fine," he replied, "I need to figure out what is going on. Maybe this weekend will help."


	8. Chapter 8

She stood in the shower looking down her body. She knew that she should be in pain, but the thought just made her shake her head. She wished she was. Maybe her heart wouldn't hurt so much if her body did a little. That was why she did crazy things. She was not afraid to take risks because she welcomed the pain that came, however little it was. Ever since she left him she had been searching for something that would erase him from her memory, from her heart.

She had always thought that she couldn't love anyone, but he had changed that. He had broken through her barriers and had taught her what it meant to be human again. She had always wanted to feel like someone cared about her, like someone would be hurt if anything happened to her, but she knew that as an agent she couldn't let herself get attached to anyone. _Yeah that worked well_, she thought.

Two years working with him had changed her life. She had started to feel again. She fell in love. Not just lust, or the need to be near him, but true, down home, honest to goodness, love. She wanted him to be happy even if it meant she couldn't have him. She wanted what was best for him, even if it was the hardest thing to do. She loved him.

She shook her head again. This was getting ridiculous. He had opened the floodgates for her without knowing it. She had started to become human again, she started caring for people. She let people into her life that she would do anything for; him, Sam, Kyle and most of their SEAL team, Hetty, Mike Franks. Just when she had thought she had it all figured out, disaster struck; the death of Kyle. She had only found out on accident, her handler had decided not to tell her. She showed up that day as someone completely different, not letting any of the SEALs know that she was there. She did not exist, even though she and many of the SEALs had kept in contact over the last four years. She was not allowed to feel the pain because Samantha Carter did not exist.

Kyle had helped her sort out her feelings, teaching her what they meant again, but with him gone, she felt like she had no one to turn to:  
>Sam had a family.<br>Kyle was dead.  
>The rest of the SEALs were usually away on missions.<br>Mike Franks was on a beach in Mexico.  
>He was not an option.<br>Hetty…maybe Hetty could help.

She had called Hetty knowing that she could always rely on her, and she was right. Hetty instantly opened her arms to the poor girl who had nowhere else to go. Hetty had asked her to come to LA to work for her, knowing that she could keep a better eye on her when she was there. She had agreed.

Shaking her head she turned the scalding water off and walked out of the shower, looking at the bruises that were starting to appear on her body. She knew that she would have to wear long sleeves for the next couple of days so that people didn't freak out; especially HIM. He had always been protective of her, but she was sure that had changed over the years. He didn't feel the same way, he didn't even know how she felt, so how could he? She walked over to her locker, stark naked and looked at herself in the mirror on the door. This was the worst she had looked in a long time. She knew that Sam had avoided her face, because that's the kind of guy that he was. She was surprised that she had gotten him to actually hit her. It had been quite a while since he had fought with her, so his going full out meant that he had finally caved. He had finally accepted that she was there.

She heard a gasp behind her and she turned around, pulling a knife from her locker as she went. Kensi was standing there looking at the bruises on her body.

"Those aren't just from today are they?" Kensi asked.  
>"No," she replied.<br>"Why do you do that to yourself?"  
>"I don't." She pointed at a large bruise on her collarbone that was old and turning a yellowy green. "This is from the suspect who ran from you." She pointed at the handprint on her upper arm. "This one is from the man who tried holding you hostage but took me when I bargained for you." She pointed at the ones across her chest, ribs, and stomach that looked like big blobs. "These are from today."<p>

Kensi stood in shock as she watched the beautiful woman in front of her get dressed. "Why didn't you tell any of us? You can't do this alone."

She turned around violently, "Oh? So now you care? What would you have said? Do you remember what you said when I took your place? 'You're so stupid. I can take care of myself.' Oh really? Could you have handled having three of your ribs broken? Could you have handled having him hold you so hard that you still have a bruise six weeks later? You would have whined to the guys until they gave you special treatment. Could you have handled him raping you, because believe me, it was not a picnic. He is dead now because of you. Deeks had to shoot him because I was tied down and couldn't incapacitate him. I could have brought him in, could have fought him easily, but because of you and your whining I was tied up and couldn't do anything. Look, Princess, the world does not revolve around you. You are not the only female agent. Let me tell you, baby: That is not how I handle things. I don't need anyone's approval anymore. The last time I cared about someone they died. I will protect this team with everything that I am, but I will not be anyone's best friend. That just gets people killed."

She had already pulled her long sleeved shirt over her head and whipped on a pair of sweat pants so she slammed on her sandals and marched out the door. Kensi stood there in shock. "What the hell just happened?" Shaking her head she ran out of the locker room hoping to catch up with Kitty. She looked around just in time to see the outside door slam shut. She ran out to find a car peeling out of the driveway.

She walked back to the bullpen to find the rest of the team sitting there staring at her. "What happened?" Sam asked cautiously. Kensi looked at Sam and said, "What does she mean when she says, 'Friends get people killed?'" Sam gasped as tears started welling up in his eyes. "Kyle," he said quietly. Everyone looked at him in shock. "Kyle your swim buddy Kyle," asked G quietly. Sam just nodded.

"He died about six months ago, you remember G?" Sam asked as G nodded. "I was talking to some of the other guys who were there and Tyler told me that she was there. He said she had changed a lot, her hair was longer and dark brown, but it was her. None of the rest of us saw her. I know she talked to Kyle all the time. He was thinking of asking her to marry him. He told me that he loved her and he thought she was starting to love him. He knew that she would always love someone else more, but he was a close second to her. It took years for him to get that close to her, but he managed. They had a big romantic dinner planned where he was going to propose. He knew she would be surprised because they weren't even dating, but he was sure she would say yes. He never did anything voluntarily unless he was absolutely sure of the outcome. They were best friends. He knew she had no one else. She got called away last minute on an emergency evacuation of an agent in distress, so she called him to say she couldn't come. He was upset, but he understood. He called me to tell me. Three hours later I get the call that he had been shot. We didn't get the case because he was stationed in Washington State but from what I read in the case report they didn't find out who killed him until three men just appeared at their doorstep drugged out of their mind. They interrogated the men and found out that they had killed Kyle. They had been paid big money by some unknown party to shoot him and his fiancé, but they never found the girl. Turns out it was Samantha Carter, but the investigating agents never found her. I ran the description that Tyler gave me of Samantha at the funeral and sure enough, she was there under the name of Shannon Knowles." Sam sighed and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Before Kyle there was her partner. He was the other guy that she loved. I'm pretty sure she thinks that if she gets attached to anyone it will be an instant death sentence. Hetty already has several on her head so she doesn't feel bad about that one, but Mike Franks is another one and she feels bad about contacting him anymore because he is living with his granddaughter on a beach somewhere in Mexico. Other than that I think she has no one. Everyone else in her life has abandoned her, abused her, or been killed. She doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore, so she handles life alone."

G was shocked. He couldn't believe that the girl he had fallen in love with had been through so much. He looked at Kensi. "What brought this on?" Kensi looked embarrassed and G knew that he was not going to like whatever she had to say. "I walked into the locker room, because she had been in there for almost two hours. I was going to talk to her. I don't know what I was going to say, but I don't think it was very nice. I saw her get out of the shower and walk to her locker. She was naked and covered in bruises."

She saw Sam stiffen up, "No, Sam, they weren't all from you. Not even close. Deeks, do you remember when her and I got nabbed by those ex-Marines; the big tough mercenary guys? They locked us in a cell, but didn't tie us up. I was being mouthy, trying to figure out the locks they had on the door by making them come in and out. Now that I think about it, there was absolutely no way out of that cell from the inside. The hinges were on the outside, there was no handle on the inside, and the lock was on the wall not the door itself. Anyway, she told me that there was no way out from the inside. I told her she was an idiot, because there is always a way out. Boy was I wrong. One of them had threatened to hurt me if I kept mouthing off, but I told him to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. He picked me up and started to take me away when she spoke up. She said to leave me alone and that she would hurt him if anything happened to me. He laughed because he didn't believe her, but he threw me down against the back wall and picked her up. She must have moved to attack him from his back, but his friend saw it coming and knocked her unconscious. Now that I know about her pain tolerance, he must have hit her REALLY hard. Who found her by the way? I never did ask."

Eric said, "That's because you never cared." When no one else said anything he said, "it was G who found her." Kensi looked over at G. "How did you find her? Was she in a cell like I was?"

"No," he replied. "She was tied down to a bed. She had all of her clothes on, but they were definitely a mess. She was bleeding and barely conscious."

Nell spoke up, "I have the doctor's medical report if you want to see it. It's not light reading."

G looked up at her, "What do you mean it's not light reading?"

"She has three broken ribs, hairline fracture to her skull, shatter point hairline fractures on her left arm along with a hand shaped bruise, and she was definitely raped. She is lucky that she can't get pregnant, because the doctor was definitely concerned about that in his report with how many different samples there were. He estimated six different men and at least one ejaculation each. The marks on her wrist and ankles show that she struggled to the point that they wrapped her wrists in the silks to prevent the handcuffs from killing her. She may have gone down, but it was definitely not without a fight."

"What do you mean she can't get pregnant" asked Kensi?

"She was raped a lot as a child and there was extensive damage done so the agency paid for her to have a complete hysterectomy. She doesn't have any ovaries, eggs, or a womb. She can't get pregnant."

Deeks spoke up, "That is way too much information Nell."

G was fuming. When he looked at Sam he knew the feeling was mutual. It was a good thing that those men had all died, because if they hadn't they would be on their way up to Leavenworth right now to correct that mistake. "Why didn't she tell us? Why didn't YOU tell us? You knew and you kept it from us?" G was interrupted by Hetty.

"Mr. Callen, that is quite enough. Miss Jones was under orders from me not to divulge this information. As you know, a person's medical records are private."

"Not on my team. If something happens to someone that could affect their performance, I need to know about it."

"It would never have affected her performance because you never utilized her abilities in the first place. The only reason she was on either of the missions that she was hurt on was because I made you take her. You leave her here claiming that she does not have a partner so she is in danger. I am sorry but from the reports I have read concerning both incidents, the only reason she was hurt both times is because you and your entire team ignored the fact that she is better qualified for most of these missions than any of the rest of you. I am sorry that she was hurt both times, but let me tell you something. She put herself in the line of fire because she knows she can handle it. She talked to me after BOTH missions and said she was sorry. Six weeks ago she came to me and said she was sorry that she couldn't save you Miss Bly. She said that it was her fault that you were both captured. Well, from the reports I read, it wasn't true. She was following orders, Mr. Callen s orders. When Miss Bly came to relieve her she pushed Kitty into the wall giving the ex-Marines that one moment of distraction to gas them."

Hetty glared at Kensi for the first time. "You, Miss Bly have to figure out that you are not the alpha female. The only one who gets that title is me, and I do not use it often. Get over this petty jealousy. It does not suit you. As for the suspect that ran away, the only reason he was apprehended is because Mr. Callen once again ordered her to wait in the car. He was two blocks ahead of you Miss. Bly. There is no way you would have caught him. The bruise was because he elbowed her hard in the clavicle a week ago. It will be gone soon, probably before work on Monday. Now that you have this case solved, I expect you all to have much better attitudes when you come back. I expect you to all behave like adults when I see you next. This is getting ridiculous."


End file.
